At the very beginning of Bloodborne we find a note right next to us.
“Seek paleblood to transcend the hunt.”
This note here, is basically the only objective we are given throughout the game.
Finding pale blood and transcending the hunt is pretty much Bloodborne’s winning state.
The only problem – I’ve beaten the game half a dozen times at this point, yet I still have absolutely no idea what seeking paleblood is even supposed to mean.
So when I sat down and began working on this retrospective I set myself a simple goal.
I wanted to work out what the objective of the game means in the context of the game’s lore.
And this small little goal, sent me down a very deep rabbit hole.
The thing is.
As it turns out, Pale-blood is one of the biggest mysteries in the entire lore of Bloodborne.
There just is no obvious answer to the question what the note refers to.
And that’s really interesting isn’t it.
The very first thing we are told to do in bloodborne, the very first objective we are given and the clearest goal that the game ever gives us, is still a mystery to its community almost a decade after the game came out.
You know, it’s been 9 years yet people are still not entirely sure what the game is even about.
In this video we will embark on a journey to solve this mystery. We will take a look back at Bloodborne and it’s themes and finally try to solve this mystery.
====== Patreon
Help content like this survive on the platform: https://www.patreon.com/Ceave
====== Timestamps———–
00:00:00 – Intro
00:03:31 – Bloody Viles (Bloodborne’s Premise and Healing System)
00:15:39 – The Trailer (Bloodborne’s Themes Analysis)
00:24:25 – The Genealogy of Blood Transfusion (Lore Discussion)
00:32:13 – Boss Fights
00:52:55 – The Origins Of Bloodbonre’s Madness (Inspiration)
01:05:38 – The Birth Of God (Bloodborne’s Philosophy)
====== Credits for the Music
Bloodborne OST – The Orphan Of Kos
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time OST – “Gerudo Valley”
Additionally the video uses licensed music from productioncrate.com and motionarray.com
source
I love how you keep changing the names of your videos.
Personally I liked this ones first name better
Quick point about Ashen blood, I seem to remember some evidence that it was probably the church that was behind it in Old Yarnam. They likely poisoned the water to then come in with the cure, as to show how miraculous healing blood was. They didn't expect people would turn into beasts, and so tried to cover it up by burning down and condemned the area.
This was how they went from a group of scholars that seperated from the leadership, to being the ruling system of worship.
I just love these videos
The title and thumbnail keep changing, this fickleness breaks my brain
10/10 vid ceave 😁
Paleblood, you say? Hmm… Never heard of it.
Not gonna lie, I hardly heard of Bloodborne before I saw this video. Then I saw the video and watched it in its entirety because ceave gaming.
Ummmm I think it's called Bloodborne because the sickness that turned the people into beasts was bloodborne. Kinda like airborne or waterborne.
paleblood is the blood of the moon. you transcend the hunt by defeating the moon presence (NOT with the third umbilical cords, those just let you resist the moon presence's hypnosis-esque subjugation and are just the key to the door that is the battle itself)
if they made the camera zoom out relative to a bosses size, the game wouldn't have this camera problem. They should have done that by dark souls 2 by the latest imo
only real ones actually put a sticky note on their monitor
9:35 glad to see somebody finally acknowledge how awful blood vials are. Hands down the worst souls healing system. For me personally it pulls down the games combat and level design a lot. Love the aesthetic of Bloodborne but I find it gameplay wise lacking compared to other souls
Bloodborne is a game about how if you're a stupid idiot with no insight you will be completely incapable of affecting the world around you in any real way
Also above the themes, Bloodborne is also a type of pathogen spread through, you guessed it, blood. So it may also refer to the old blood as a sickness
I appreciate the spoiler warning for a philosophy text…
Hey, I just want you to know that I’m a Christian, and I watched the whole thing- but I wanted to commend you on a blasphemy sensitivity warning. It’s not something that bothers me personally, but I think that there are people who are finding faith and thinking through ideas about God and the Church for the first time who can feel easily swayed and hurt on stuff like this— so thanks for being kind to them 😊
Somehow you have managed to be my childhood YouTuber with mariomarker, and grow into one I still watch today.
I don’t know if it’s your style just growing with me, or that I just like whatever you create, but it’s kinda cool to have followed you online for so long. (Since the cow farm video I think)
Can’t wait to see what stuff you do next. I cannot stress enough that without you and a few others, my channel wouldn’t exist. My online life and presence would be completely different had I never found you, and I am very grateful I did.
Hope your videos start doing better again.
I haven’t finished the video, but a huge thing about the note at the beginning of the game is that the Japanese version says that it’s written by your character
Im not ok with you changing Nietzsches terminology. He had some revolutionary ideas and he gets to name them.
Ooh does all those missed discussion points at the end mean this is the start of a Bloodborne series? I am there!
Yes yes niche Is a big fucking a**hole, we alredy know that .
Aniway great video keep It up!
ive never even played bloodbourne but this was an amazing analysis. your videos just keep getting better
Somehow I never actually realized that the hunter was injecting the blood vials. I always just thought they were dramatically crushing them. I wonder how torn up the thighs of their armor must be now?
Genuinely, how tf does this channel only have 40k?
Funnily, I initially believed paleblood referred to the player- “paleblood” was your affliction which you came to cure, and someone else was seeking *you*. Then I found out the japanese implies that you wrote the note yourself…
Just a little bit more on the Rom the Vacuous spider- in the game files, there’s an unfinished boss fight present that shows that at some point, it was planned for you to fight Provost Willem. It could be possible that at some point you were meant to fight him raather than Rom- which fits with your theory!
Thank god someone else also hates the blood vial system. Imo it's the singular major blemish on an otherwise stellar combat system. I cannot fathom why they decided to take the estus system and add more pointless grind.
For me Blodborne was about friendship, yeah it was that simple for me
@Ceave Perspective: Such an amazing video, thanks for that! The only thing I dislike is its current title ("After 9 Years Bloodborne’s Community Is Still Not Sure What Bloodborne Is Even About."), because it doesn't pay the video justice! I think something like "God Is Dead: How Bloodborne Interprets Nietzsche's Philosophy" or "The Old Gods Are Dead: …" or something along those lines would be much more fitting! 🙂
I would love a Video from you about the amazingly detailed world of red dead redemption 2
Thanks for the explanation
1:20:56 , not only am i not in support of everyone's worldviews, i don't respect them either, and neither should you. respect people, not their beliefs 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦
There’s is no bloodborne on PC
You need to advert this channel more.
You just became my favorite channel on youtube, this was so well made and so interesting ! Thanks a ton !
How is it that every sigle video you put out is better than the last? Thank you for continuing to create masterpieces
Did bro really say that paarl is boring but the arena is interesting?
This is one of the best Bloodborne videos Ive ever seen. And Im obsessed with Bloodborne videos.
Not finished with the video yet and may delete this later if it's addressed. However, "borne" as in the title of the game, and "born" as in being born/having given birth are not the same word. "Borne" is the past participle of "to bear," carrying or supporting something. The problem I'm seeing in this part of the video is that you are analysing the cradle, the blood moon, etc, as having strong ties to giving birth, and using the title of the game to point to this central theme. But this would only work if the game was called "Bloodborn". But its not! The name is "Bloodborne" with an e at the end.